Lithos 346–347 (2019) 105157 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Lithos journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/lithos Streaming of saline fluids through Archean crust: Another view of charnockite-granite relations in southern India Robert C. Newton a,⁎, Leonid Ya. Aranovich b, Jacques L.R. Touret c a Dept. of Earth, Planetary and Spaces, University of California at Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA b Inst. of Ore Deposits, Petrography, Mineralogy and Geochemistry, Russian Academy of Science, Moscow RU-119017, Russia c 121 rue de la Réunion, F-75020 Paris, France article info abstract Article history: The complementary roles of granites and rocks of the granulite facies have long been a key issue in models of the Received 27 June 2019 evolution of the continental crust. “Dehydration melting”,orfluid-absent melting of a lower crust containing H2O Received in revised form 25 July 2019 only in the small amounts present in biotite and amphibole, has raised problems of excessively high tempera- Accepted 26 July 2019 tures and restricted amounts of granite production, factors seemingly incapable of explaining voluminous bodies Available online 29 July 2019 of granite like the Archean Closepet Granite of South India. The existence of incipient granulite-facies metamor- phism (charnockite formation) and closely associated migmatization (melting) in 2.5 Ga-old gneisses in a quarry Keywords: fl Charnockite exposure in southern India and elsewhere, with structural, chemical and mineral-inclusion evidence of uid ac- Granite tion, has encouraged a wetter approach, in consideration of aqueous fluids for rock melting which maintain suf- Saline fluids ficiently low H2O activity for granulite-facies metamorphism. Closepet Granite Existing experimental data at elevated T and P are sufficient to demonstrate that, at mid-crust pressures of 0.5– Archean crust 0.6 GPa and metamorphic temperatures above 700 °C, ascending immiscible CO2-rich and concentrated alkali Southern India chloride aqueous fluids in equilibrium with charnockitic (orthopyroxene-bearing) gneiss will inevitably begin Metasomatism to melt granitic rocks. The experimental data show that H2O activity is much higher (0.5–0.6) than previously Continental evolution portrayed for beginning granulite facies metamorphism (0.15–0.3). Possibilities for metasomatism of the deep crust are greatly enhanced over the ultra-dry models traditionally espoused. Streaming of ultrasaline fluids through continental crust could be a mechanism for the generation of the discrete mid-crust layer of migmatites suggested to characterize younger tectonometamorphic regions. The action of CO2-rich and hypersaline fluids in Late Archean metamorphism and magmatism could record the beginning of large-scale subduction of volatile- rich surficial materials. © 2019 Published by Elsevier B.V. 1. Introduction sequences of these bodies, an early orthopyroxene-bearing phase was followed by non-charnockitic biotite granite. Fluid inclusions in min- The orthopyroxene-bearing granitic rock called charnockite was first erals of the Norway occurrence are CO2-rich in the charnockitic portion described in southern India and named by Holland (1900). Charnockitic and H2O-rich in the non-charnockitic portion (Madsen, 1977), suggest- rocks are the dominant component of the Archean granulite-facies ter- ing some form of control by the volatile components in charnockite- rane of northern Tamil Nadu and southern Karnataka States. Felsic rocks granite relations. In contrast to these unambiguously igneous examples bearing orthopyroxene have been identified as major units in Precam- of a charnockite-granite relationship, the Indian charnockitic rocks ap- brian crystalline shields worldwide (Field et al., 1980; Hubbard and pear to be granulite facies metamorphic variants of the felsic gneisses Whitley, 1979; Ridley, 1992). that make up the bulk of Archean cratons (Martin, 1993). They are com- The origin of charnockite has been a subject of controversy. A key as- plexly deformed polyphase rocks, some of whose protoliths are much pect of the charnockite problem is whether charnockite is most funda- older than the granulite facies metamorphism that generated the mentally an igneous or a metamorphic rock. Evidence for an igneous orthopyroxene (Hansen et al., 1997; Mojzsis et al., 2003). In their origin exists in orthopyroxene-bearing phases of stratified granitic in- major element chemistry, structures and metasedimentary and trusions that have been described in southern Norway (Petersen, metabasic enclaves, the Indian charnockites are little different from 1980) and South Africa (Bohlender et al., 1992). In the crystallization the lower-grade gneisses of the Dharwar Craton (Cooray, 1969). A particularly enigmatic example of charnockite-granite relations is ⁎ Corresponding author. found in southern Karnataka State. The outcrop of the Closepet Granite, E-mail address: [email protected] (R.C. Newton). a linear 250-km-long complex of intrusive granites, crosses the https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lithos.2019.105157 0024-4937/© 2019 Published by Elsevier B.V. 2 R.C. Newton et al. / Lithos 346–347 (2019) 105157 lower-grade craton from north to south and impinges upon the thermodynamic data on melting of quartzofeldspathic rocks and on charnockitic terrane (Fig. 1). At this petrologic juncture, a charnockitic the stability of orthopyroxene in such rocks. Particular emphases are equivalent of Closepet Granite might be expected, but is not in evidence; whether the relatively low H2O activity that could sustain orthopyro- instead, a coarsely porphyritic (commonly megacrystic) K-feldspar xene stability could be high enough to promote melting, what kinds of granite is succeeded abruptly by granulite facies gneisses. Although ra- fluids (saline, carbonic, or other) could have been active, and whether diometric ages of whole rocks and zircons show that granulite facies possible fluids correspond to the observed fluid inclusions. Definition metamorphism and granite emplacement were coeval at 2.52 ± of such fluids might have implications for the general importance of 0.01 Ga (Friend and Nutman, 1991; Hansen et al., 1997; Jayananda fluids in evolution of the deep continental crust. et al., 1995; Mojzsis et al., 2003), and therefore presumably co-genetic, definitive petrogenetic relations of charnockite and granite have so far not been elucidated. An outstanding problem exists in the very low 2. Regional and local petrologic relations H2O activity inferred by some workers to be necessary for orthopy- roxene stability relative to biotite and amphibole in felsic rocks There exists a marked north-to-south increase in metamorphic pres- (Burton and O'Nions, 1990; Sen and Bhattacharya, 1990), whereas sure discernable in gneisses and associated metasedimentary units in megacrystic granite is considered to implicate fluid-present, possibly the western (Raith et al., 1983), Closepet area (Hansen et al., 1984), even post-consolidation recrystallization (Glazner and Johnson, 2013). and eastern (Hansen et al., 1995) parts of the Craton. Paleopressures The present paper seeks to define possible relationships of charn- of ≈ 0.4 GPa in the northern amphibolite-facies Peninsular Gneiss, cor- ockite and granite in the Dharwar Craton of southern Karnataka, with responding to about 15 km depth, give way progressively southward to particular reference to a possible role of active fluid phases, as is paleopressures up to 0.8 GPa in the granulite facies terrane, correspond- suggested by recently published descriptions of fluid inclusions in gran- ing to paleodepths of 30 km. The N-S traverse is therefore an excavated ite and charnockite. We make use of available experimental and mid-to-lower crust profile (Pichamuthu, 1965). Fig. 1. Granite-gneiss-charnockite relations in the South India Archean high grade terrane, compiled from the maps of Suryanarayana (1960) and Devaraju and Sadashivaiah (1969),with some input from Mahabaleswar et al. (1995). The main map shows that Closepet Granite and massive charnockite outcrops have almost no overlap. Small outcrops of charnockitic gneiss occur within the southern margin of Closepet Granite; these include the incipient charnockites at Kabbaldurga and several other localities. The inset map shows relations of the southern India and Sri Lanka high grade terranes. Despite a 2-billion year age difference between the Kabbaldurga partially charnockitized hornblende-biotite gneiss and the closely similar occur- rence at Udadigana, Sri Lanka, the mechanism of charnockite formation seems to have been essentially the same: by infiltration of CO2-rich and concentrated alkali chloride solutions at granulite facies P-T conditions, with partial melting in both cases. Symbols: DB: Deccan Basalt; EG: Eastern Ghats; CB: Cuddapah Basin; DG: Dharwar Greenstones; WDC: Western Dharwar Craton; EDC: Eastern Dharwar Craton; KKB: Kerala Khondalite Belt; HC: Sri Lanka High Grade Terrane; K: Kabbaldurga; H: Halaguru; S: Satnur; U: Udadigana. R.C. Newton et al. / Lithos 346–347 (2019) 105157 3 A remarkable aspect of the areal relations (Fig. 1)isthatcharnockitic in host gneiss (Fig. 2a). The deformation involves a new foliation super- gneiss and Closepet Granite have only minor overlap; the granite out- posed on older gneissic structure (Fig. 2b). Chemical analyses of crops become sporadic southward and phase out at about 12°30′N, al- charnockitic lenses and immediately adjacent hornblende-biotite gneiss most exactly where massive charnockite outcrops appear. Petrologic show